by M. Malone
Not even the ones who claimed to trust you.
Some life.
Whatever. Shaking my head, I pushed away the uncertainty. I was here to do a job, and Sabine’s life depended on my succeeding. If this was the place I was designated to infiltrate, then so be it.
The phone in my hand vibrated. I raised it to my ear but did not speak, per my instructions.
You have three minutes to get up the stairwell to the penthouse level. The voice sounded robotic, like a computer.
I had so many questions. What if I took longer than three minutes? What if someone saw me? But instead, I waited quietly.
A second later, the robotic voice continued. Once you reach the penthouse level, your target will be alone. You have seven minutes to secure the target and exit through the rear door. The click in my ear was the only indication they’d hung up.
Well, that was that, then. I sighed. It was crazy to go through with this on so little information but what choice did I have, really? Bring back the target or my friend would die? It was an impossible choice.
Being an ORUS agent for the past decade had taught me plenty about impossible choices. And I didn’t have the time to ruminate on my decision because I had no doubt the voice wasn’t joking when it claimed I only had three minutes to get upstairs.
Tucking the phone into my vest, I walked quickly to the east side door, letting out my breath when it opened easily beneath my hands. The stairwell was dark as I sprinted up the floors, barely breaking a sweat as I passed floor five, six, seven and on.
At the top level, I paused briefly to allow my heart rate to settle and patted the Sig Sauer at my hip. More than likely I wouldn’t need the weapons I’d been issued, and it was a definite that ORUS would prefer I didn’t use them. Whoever this target was, Orion wanted him alive and well when I delivered him. No matter. It should be easy work to incapacitate some middle-aged office worker. I glanced down the stairwell I’d just ascended as it occurred to me I’d have to take him back down the same way I’d come up.
Change of plans.
There was no way I’d be able to get in, subdue the target and then carry him all the way down. He’d have to be conscious so he could walk down the stairs on his own. Otherwise, it would take too long.
Seven minutes.
The echo of that robotic voice urged me forward. I was wasting time.
The click of the door sounded loud in my ears as I entered the penthouse level. A baby’s cry in the distance stopped me in my tracks. What the bloody hell? There hadn’t been anything in the briefing about a child.
Motion up ahead caught my eye and I shrank back against the wall. If there were a baby here, I might have to take care of more than just the target. My eyes closed briefly before I blocked out all emotion as I’d been taught.
It was time to take care of this.
Sin Chapter 3
Matthias
* * *
Fuck.
Fuckity fuck.
Fuck queen and country. Fuck a duck.
The alarms were still blaring. The watch on my wrist vibrated over and over again, and I was helpless to stop the cyberattack that was happening.
And Isabella was still crying.
Multiple denial-of-service code attacks were happening at once and I wasn’t fast enough to kill them all. It was as if whoever had tried to break in before had learned their lesson and had come back with multiple friends who were pissed off because I’d insulted their mother, or in this case, their father.
I shut down one attack, only to have another one pop up on another server. I rolled my seat around backward and forward, killing off attempts to hack into my system. All around me alarms blared when the cameras went down. Jesus Christ. I’d poked a hornet’s nest all right. The power went out and the generators went on. But even though the generators had come on, an alarm went off in the elevator, which meant it was still stuck.
Fuck me. Stay calm. Deal with one problem at a time. That’s all you have to do… one step at a time.
My phone rang and kept ringing. Noah. I put it on speaker. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“Yeah, I figured, considering that Lucia and I are still stuck in the elevator.”
And then all the alarms flashed red on my monitor, letting me know that all exterior doors were locked and interior ones too. Shit. That meant that anyone in the conference room, the gym, and maybe the bedrooms was going to be locked in for the time being. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Everything okay? How serious is it?”
Do not tell him. You can handle this. “I’m working on it. I’ve got it handled.”
“It’s fine. I just want to make sure Izzy’s okay.”
“I’ll bring her in here with me while I’m working on this. She’ll be fine. I’ll find Rafe, too. I know he’s around here somewhere.”
Noah was silent for a moment. “Matthias, what the fuck is going on, kid?”
“Not the time for questions Noah. I’ll get Izzy.” I hung up on my mentor, knowing that I’d probably pay the price for that one later. But right now, I had other fish to fry.
I pushed up out of my chair, and then jogged out of my room to Izzy’s. The generators powered the lights lining the hallways, so at least I wasn’t running in the dark. As I approached Izzy’s bedroom, the screeching got louder. My heart hammered as I leaned over and scooped up the baby.
“Hey, love. That’s a good darling. That’s a good girl. Uncle Matthias is here. No need to cry.”
She blinked teary gray eyes up at me, and then a chubby hand reached up to smack my face. “Baba?”
It was as if she was asking me where her papa was. Fuck, I didn’t speak baby. “Your mum and dad are coming, I promise. You just have to stay nice and calm for Uncle Matthias, okay? We had a little emergency.” I kept my voice calm and cooing, and it seemed to do the trick because the tears cleared quickly and she started to coo and giggle at me, clapping her hands and starting to point at things. She was just on the cusp of talking.
“Mata,” she babbled and patted me on the cheek then proceeded to babble a string of nonsensical words.
I could only imagine what that was going to be like in the future. She would probably go nonstop. Between the baby and JJ, I might need to find some earplugs. I found her little walking-stroller-type thing, the one with all the bells on top of it, settled her inside and strapped her in.
It looked like a stroller, but this one encouraged her to keep walking, which was just fine by me because I needed her occupied while I dealt with whoever the hell was trying to break into my systems. When I pushed her into the hallway, I called out. “Rafe? Are you here? I need you to watch Izzy.”
But there was no answer. I did a quick mental calculation on where everyone was supposed to be. Rafe was in the penthouse somewhere, which made it odd that he hadn’t come to investigate what was going on yet. Noah and Lucia were in the elevator. Ryan was on a gig. Dylan had his day off. Jonas and JJ were on their honeymoon. The new recruit was on a training op with some friend of Noah’s who ran a bodyguard agency, and Oskar was in the living room which was on lockdown. So everyone was accounted for. All I had to do was find Rafe and Diana. But as soon as I walked down the hall toward the living room and past the gym on the left, I froze.
Well, you found him.
Rafe stared at him from the other side of the glass in the gym, hands on his hips looking pissed the hell off. Diana was lifting weights, as if the blaring alarms and the power going out hadn’t impeded her desire for a workout.
Rafe motioned to the door, but I shook my head. With a series of pantomimes, I tried to explain to him that something had happened and our power was off … that I couldn’t open the doors until I got the system fixed. Rafe’s gaze slid down to where Izzy was happily playing with the balls in front of her, and his lips set into a firm line.
I scowled at him. Did the bastard really think I couldn’t look after the baby? The guy didn’t look pleased that I was the one that was left w
ith her. “Yeah, well, not my choice either.” I cared about Isabella. She was innocent and deserved protection and love. I couldn’t offer love, but protection… That was in my wheelhouse. I’d die before I let anything happen to the baby.
Isabella looked up and waved one of her balls around, tossing it at me. I caught it then gently let it come back to her in its tether. She giggled then threw one to her uncle. When Rafe didn’t catch that one (because, hello, barrier), Izzy scrunched her face. I knew right away that there were going to be tears, and I bent down. “No, no, no, no. Listen to Uncle Matthias’s voice. You’re fine. Look, I got your ball for you. No need to cry.”
The last thing I wanted was a crying baby on top of all the noise and the alarm going off on my wrist again. God damn it. I needed to get back into the room. Well, Rafe wasn’t available, so Izzy would have to come with me. I just hoped she didn’t touch anything. The walker would only keep her occupied for so long.
I glanced back up at Rafe and tried a pantomime that I was going to take the baby and go back to my room to try and fix what was going on. Rafe frowned for a moment as if not understanding, then nodded. Isabella waved to her uncle and patted one of her chubby hands on the glass. Rafe bent down on his haunches and put his hand up too.
Rafe’s hand was huge, much larger than Izzy’s head even. She looked as if she was trying to measure her palm against his. Rafe seemed to say something to her, but no sound came out because the glass in the gym was soundproof. When Rafe stood, he nodded at me as if to say, ‘Go do your thing, kid.’
I took hold of the handle at the back of the walker. “Okay princess, I’m going to see if I can fix this mess and get your mummy and daddy out. Whoever is doing this are a bunch of meanies.”
Izzy answered by blowing a raspberry.
Her full cheeks and bright eyes had a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “Yeah, sometimes I feel that way about people too.” Just as I turned to push her back toward the bedroom and my monitors, I saw a shadow behind me. Immediately, I whipped around and shoved Isabella’s walker so she rolled forward into the darker corner next to the gym.
I caught Rafe’s look of horror as I was turning, and then I saw that I hadn’t been imagining it. That was no shadow. Once again, the penthouse had been breached.
Sin, releases on 5/29/18. DOWNLOAD your copy now at malonesquared.com/sin
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In Stilettos Spin off
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About the Authors
NYT & USA Today Bestselling author M. MALONE lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with her three favorite guys, her husband and their two sons. She holds a Master's degree in Business from a prestigious college that would no doubt be scandalized at how she's using her expensive education.
Independently published, her work has appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists more than a dozen times. She's now a full-time writer and spends 99.8% of her time in her pajamas. minxmalone.com
* * *
USA Today Bestselling Author, NANA MALONE’s love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick butt heroines ever since.
With her overactive imagination, and channeling her inner Buffy, it was only a matter a time before she started creating her own characters. Waiting for her chance at a job as a ninja assassin, Nana, meantime works out her drama, passion and sass with fictional characters every bit as sassy and kick butt as she thinks she is. nanamaloneromance.net
Before Sin © May 2018 M. Malone and Nana Malone
* * *
A MALONE SQUARED PUBLICATION
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address: MALONE SQUARED, 340 S Lemon Ave #9016, Walnut , CA 91789
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